Dr Vino's wine blog

wine talk that goes down easy

When you get a wine in a can, does the sommelier let you sniff the lid? And place it on the table during dinner?

The Telegraph (!) reports on a study that shows alternative wine packaging is on the rise. The (British) industry is trying to lightweight materials: Marks & Spencer has ten wines in pouches this year and 200 million liters of wine will be sold across Europe in cans next year.

What do you think: sign of the wine apocalypse or a green choice? In your calculations, consider that although aluminum is much lighter than glass and is very recyclable and cans are efficiently stackable, the emissions of making aluminum may negate the greenhouse gas savings in transport, especially if the journey is short and the can is used only once and then chucked in a landfill.

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12 Responses to “Wine in a can: boon or boondoggle?”

In Colorado, The Infinite Monkey Theorem has been canning a slightly effervescent muscat and pino gris in a can for a couple of years now. Much more convenient for backpacking and picnicking than a bottle, not to mention concert venues or anywhere outdoors!

We’re pro aluminum. FLASQ Wines bottles wines in aluminum bottles. Alternative packaging provides the portability those with active lifestyles crave. Boating, by the pool, beach, hiking, picnics, ball parks, concerts, on the golf course…you name it. Where is wine found in these scenarios? Not available or in a plastic cup.

Consider these factoids too: Aluminum bottles are 100% recyclable and in the U.S., aluminum is recycled at a rate of nearly 60%, a rate that is more than double that of any other beverage container. Thanks for the opportunity to weigh in!

Coppola’s Sofia has been packaged in cans for nearly 10 years. From the beginning, sales reps have said “just wait, you’ll see more of this.” Still waiting. I certainly hope wine growlers catch on quicker.

I think it is the sign of the wine apocalypse. Even thought cans have some advantages, putting vine in a can is just unacceptable. This way we completely forget about vine culture, and we equate it with drinks like beer and juices for example. I don’t like this idea at all.

Just for the record, certain beverages served in cans taste great when served iced cold. Brands like Coca- Cola from a can are something I actually crave on occasion. Wine, however, particularly red,(which is my fave) would not be ideal served iced cold, nor would it be appealing served in a lukewarm can. It just seems wrong. It cheapens the value of all the effort put into making the wine.

“Robo-Wine and Can-Can,” one of the first posts to my blog, pouredwithpleasure.com,traced the canned-wine phenomenon back to the cone-top cans of Mother Goldstein’s ‘sacra-mental [kosher] wine,’ a Prohibition favorite, and even earlier: to the jerry cans the French army used for wine in World War I. Greenwood Ridge’s Allan Green, lent me a nice photo of the Goldstein and others from his vast collection, and I got a shot of the jerry can from John and Beth of a military site called thedonovan.com. I tried to patch them in here, but such finesse is clearly beyond me.But take it as written: canned wine goes WAY back, and it might even COME back,because, as noted above the wine and the container are two different things.